The
new miniature sheet issued by the SNAPO shows on the left the"Self Portrait in a Straw Hat",
by Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun, and on the right the portrait (known as
"Chapeau de paille") of, probably, Susanna Fourment, whose sister, Helene,
Rubens married 1630. Both portraits are conserved at the National Gallery in
London.

Elisabeth Vigée
Lebrun's work was
painted after 1782. It is a free imitation of Rubens' "Chapeau de Paille", a painting that EVL has seen in Antwerp. The
painting appears to be an "autograph" replica of a picture, the original of
which was painted in 1782. The painter wears a real straw hat, and not one
of felt, like that worn by Rubens' sitter.

SNAPO has issued both portraits not
because EVL "maliciously corrected" the wrong name of Rubens' wonderful
work. The real reason why we have put the accent on the comparison between
both works of art is because EVL displays not just a nice model, but a nice,
highly talented and successful woman (herself), working (see the easel) in a
domain that at that time was rather reserved to men.

The sheet was issued on December 29, 2002. It was printed by
the Courvoisier SNA Security Printers Ltd. at Ciudad de Leon, the capital of
SNA. The print run was of only 300,000 complete sets of sheets. The sheet could be found in all good philatelic
businesses worldwide.